83-400: The Epoxies were an American new wave band from Portland, Oregon , formed in 2000. Heavily influenced by new wave, the band jokingly described themselves as robot garage rock . Members included FM Static on synthesizers, guitarist Viz Spectrum, lead singer Roxy Epoxy, bass guitarist Shock Diode, and drummer Ray Cathode. They grew in popularity due in large part to extensive touring in both
166-495: A heavy metal and rock-dominated format. In a December 1982 Gallup poll , 14% of teenagers rated new wave as their favorite type of music, making it the third-most-popular genre. New wave had its greatest popularity on the West Coast. Unlike other genres, race was not a factor in the popularity of new wave music, according to the poll. Urban contemporary radio stations were the first to play dance-oriented new wave bands such as
249-508: A guitarist (under the name "Fritz M. Static") for the Oakland -based "Rocket Roll" band The Phenomenauts . He continued to be their touring keyboardist, playing on several national and international tours, through 2014. Since 2010, he also plays bass in the new wave punk band The Bloodtypes, who have toured both nationally and internationally and released an album and an EP. FM Static has also started his own synth punk one man show entitled Static and
332-457: A humorous or quirky pop approach, angular guitar riffs, jerky rhythms, the use of electronics, and a distinctive visual style in fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop and rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave" in the United States. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy, the musicians were more influenced by
415-555: A new band in Portland called The Bourbonettes who appeared on Shower Time! A Tribute to The Punk Group . The band then renamed itself to Suicide Notes and still performs under that moniker. They have released two singles and one full length on Dead Beat Records to date. On May 29, 2010, the Epoxies reunited for a one-off performance at a local benefit show in Portland. Perhaps confirming the group's permanent dissolution, FM Static announced to
498-413: A new pop group. That's all." According to Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, authors of Popular Music Genres: an Introduction , the "height of popularity for new wave" coincided with the election of Margaret Thatcher in spring 1979. In the early 1980s, new wave gradually lost its associations with punk in popular perception among some Americans. Writing in 1989, music critic Bill Flanagan said; "Bit by bit
581-521: A post-punk/new wave revival" while arguing it was "really more analogous to a continuum, one that could be traced back as early as the mid-'80s". Simlish Simlish is a constructed language devised by game designer Will Wright for the Sims game series developed by Electronic Arts . During the development of SimCopter (1996), Wright sought to avoid real-world languages, believing that players would grow to show disdain for repetitive dialogue. For
664-552: A radio show broadcast on Portland State University 's campus radio station in April 2007, and fronted the new wave/ pop rock band Roxy Epoxy and the Rebound. They released their first CD, Band Aids on Bullet Holes , in March 2009 on Metropolis Records , and underwent a national tour supporting TheStart the same month. As a solo artist, Roxy Epoxy released in 2010 a 5-tracks EP called 1000 with
747-464: A staple of UK pop music TV programs like Top of the Pops since the mid-70s." This rise in technology made the visual style of new wave musicians important for their success. A nervous, nerdy persona was a common characteristic of new wave fans, and acts such as Talking Heads , Devo , and Elvis Costello . This took the forms of robotic dancing, jittery high-pitched vocals, and clothing fashions that hid
830-707: A stigma—especially in the United States—that made the music virtually unmarketable. At the same time, a number of bands, such as the Cars , the Police and Elvis Costello and the Attractions , soon emerged who combined the energy and rebellious attitude of punk with a more accessible and sophisticated radio-friendly sound. These groups were lumped together and marketed exclusively under the label of new wave. As early as 1973, critics including Nick Kent and Dave Marsh were using
913-460: A trill is heard that resembles a Spanish trill, whereas later games have chosen to favor English pronunciations. Online Simlish dictionaries have emerged, signalling a departure from pragmatic uses. According to Kauker, The Sims had 3,000 to 4,000 voice events split between Kearin and Lawlor. In The Sims 2 (2004), over 50,000 lines of dialogue were recorded across a team of 11. For The Sims 2 , Maxis used Max developed by Cycling '74 with
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#1732883720794996-752: A twitchy, agitated feel. New wave musicians often played choppy rhythm guitars with fast tempos; keyboards, and stop-start song structures and melodies are common. Reynolds noted new-wave vocalists sound high-pitched, geeky, and suburban. As new wave originated in Britain, many of the first new wave artists were British. These bands became popular in America, in part, because of channels like MTV, which would play British new wave music videos because most American hit records did not have music videos to play. British videos, according to head of S-Curve Records and music producer Steve Greenberg , "were easy to come by since they'd been
1079-431: A wide variety of styles that shared a quirky, lighthearted, and humorous tone that were popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. New wave includes several pop -oriented styles from this time period. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. According to Simon Reynolds , new wave music had
1162-865: Is often omitted from signs. Stop signs in The Sims (2000), for example, do not have text and use a flat, white hand against a red octagon to depict the object. The Simlish alphabet does not match either the Latin or the Cyrillic alphabets. The symbol for the Simoleon—a currency used throughout the series—is §. When writing texts, dingbats from the Wingdings font appear. Simlish appears in Spore (2008), developed by Maxis , as well as Firaxis Games 's Sid Meier's SimGolf (2004). An app for Amazon Alexa devices that understands Simlish
1245-499: Is unchanged between English and Simlish. The most universally agreed upon greeting in Simlish is sul sul (equivalent to aloha in Hawaiian ), which may be used for greetings or farewells. According to the developers, it was created as a spliced phrase . Alternatively, the phrase o vwa vwaf sna "nice to meet you" or dag dag "goodbye" can be used. In the world of The Sims , text
1328-598: The SimCity series of games. Simlish appears as a language within Spore (2008) and Firaxis Games 's Sid Meier's SimGolf (2004). While developing SimCopter (1996), designer Will Wright explicitly avoided using real-world languages such that players could resonate with the emotions of the characters rather than their speech. The initial dialogue team—comprising Wright, audio lead Robi Kauker, voice director Claire Curtin, sound designer Kent Jolly, and composer Jerry Martin —began by using musical instruments reminiscent of
1411-522: The New Romantic movement. In 1981, Rolling Stone contrasted the movement with the previous new wave era, writing that "the natty Anglo-dandies of Japan ", having been "reviled in the New Wave era", seemed "made to order for the age of the clothes-conscious New Romantic bands." MTV continued its heavy rotation of videos by "post-New Wave pop" acts "with a British orientation" until 1987, when it changed to
1494-801: The digital signal processor (DSP) plugin MSP and the manipulation plugin Jitter, both by Cycling '74. Although Simlish is not intended to be a structured language, it shares several rules in how it is pronounced. Simlish consonants are limited; while English permits three consonants in a row, such as in the word "strong", Simlish words may use up to two consonants sequentially. However, these consonants may be used in unorthodox ways in comparison to English, such as bwu . In Simlish, some vowels may become diphthongized. For example, e may become eɪ, and o may become oʊ. Simlish and English have an equal amount of energetic masking and acoustic-phonetic interference , but while
1577-520: The indicative mood , the word "zerpa" means "there is" or "there's", as in Zerpa stamby imba bweb. "There's a stranger in my bed." Several Simlish words are officially recognized, such as nooboo "baby" and fliblia "fire". English may be transcribed into Simlish, as was done to transcribe Katy Perry songs into Simlish. For instance, the word "boo leyar" is equivalent to "boulevard", as are "par" to "park" and "crabbi car" to "credit card". The word "like"
1660-602: The music press as a "reaction against the opulence/corpulence of nouveau rich New Pop" and "part of the move back to guitar-driven music after the keyboard washes of the New Romantics". In the aftermath of grunge , the British music press launched a campaign to promote the new wave of new wave that involved overtly punk and new-wave-influenced acts such as Elastica , but it was eclipsed by Britpop , which took influences from both 1960s rock and 1970s punk and new wave. During
1743-534: The "wah wah" sound effect heard in some Peanuts animated specials . The idea to use musical instruments was quickly scrapped. Wright experimented with several real-world languages to use within The Sims , including Ukrainian , Navajo , Tagalog , and Estonian , but faced difficulty in finding voice actors and developing a unique identity for the language; with regards to the Ukrainian language, its Slavic undertone
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#17328837207941826-537: The 1960s mod influences of the Jam . Paul Weller , who called new wave "the pop music of the Seventies", explained to Chas de Whalley in 1977: It's just pop music and that's why I like it. It's all about hooks and guitar riffs. That's what the new wave is all about. It's not heavy and negative like all that Iggy and New York stuff. The new wave is today's pop music for today's kids, it's as simple as that. And you can count
1909-521: The 1980s, rejecting potentially more lucrative careers from signing to a major label. In the UK, new wave "survived through the post-punk years, but after the turn of the decade found itself overwhelmed by the more outrageous style of the New Romantics." In response, many British indie bands adopted "the kind of jangling guitar work that had typified New Wave music", with the arrival of the Smiths characterised by
1992-506: The 1980s, said in a 2011 interview that by the time of British new pop acts' popularity on MTV, "New Wave had already been over by then. New wave was not synth music; it wasn't even this sort of funny-haircut music. It was the guy in the Boomtown Rats wearing pajamas." Similarly in Britain, journalists and music critics largely abandoned the term "new wave" with the rise of synth-pop. According to authors Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, "After
2075-422: The 2000s, a number of acts that exploited a diversity of new wave and post-punk influences emerged. These acts were sometimes labeled "New New Wave". According to British music journalist Chris Nickson , Scottish band Franz Ferdinand revived both Britpop and the music of the late 1970s "with their New Wave influenced sound". AllMusic notes the emergence of these acts "led journalists and music fans to talk about
2158-600: The B-52's , Culture Club , Duran Duran, and ABC . New wave soundtracks were used in mainstream Brat Pack films such as Sixteen Candles , Pretty in Pink , and The Breakfast Club , as well as in the low-budget hit Valley Girl . John Hughes , the director of several of these films, was enthralled with British new wave music, and placed songs from acts such as the Psychedelic Furs , Simple Minds , Orchestral Manoeuvres in
2241-588: The Cubes. Ryan (Shock Diode) appeared on Cecilia and the Sauerkrauts' full-length album Sauerkraut, Wurst Und Other Delights . He then founded the synth punk band Sex Crime together with his wife Cecilia (No-Talents / Operation S) as well as former Epoxies drummer Tim (Ray Cathode). Sex Crime has released three 7" (on Danger Records, No Front Teeth Records and Jonny Cat Records) and one full-length album on Danger Records. Meanwhile, Tim (Ray Cathode) has also helped to form
2324-623: The Dark , and Echo and the Bunnymen in his films, helping to keep new wave in the mainstream. Several of these songs remain standards of the era. Critics described the MTV acts of the period as shallow or vapid. Homophobic slurs were used to describe some of the new wave musicians. Despite the criticism, the danceable quality of the music and the quirky fashion sense associated with new wave musicians appealed to audiences. Peter Ivers , who started his career in
2407-467: The English condition has linguistic interference , Simlish does not. Additionally, the Simlish condition does not suppress semantic processing and is thus less resource-demanding. The author of the linguistics blog Wug Life argued that the phonotactics of Simlish and English were the same, allowing artists who speak Spanish to effortlessly translate their songs into Simlish due to the similarities in
2490-590: The Epoxies released their first recording on Dirtnap Records , based in Seattle at the time. The self-titled 7" vinyl contained the tracks "Need More Time", "Molded Plastic" and a cover version of "Beat My Guest" by Adam and the Ants . This was the start of a longstanding association with the Pacific Northwest label and several other bands on it at the time such as The Briefs and The Spits . The first recording formed
2573-412: The Epoxies' lyrics. Members of the Epoxies had been involved with punk bands in the Portland area since the mid-1990s. Most notably, FM played with and Roxy photographed many album covers for The Automatics. FM and Viz conceived of a band wearing spray-painted refrigerator boxes and dryer hose as home-made robot costumes. This soon gave way to less restrictive (but generally just as low budget) costumes as
Epoxies - Misplaced Pages Continue
2656-445: The Jam as "British New Wave at its most quintessential and successful", remarked that the band broke up "just as British pop was being overrun by the preposterous leisurewear and over-budgeted videos of Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC, all of which were anathema to the puritanical Weller ." Scholar Russ Bestley noted that while punk, new wave, and post-punk songs had featured on the Top of
2739-489: The Modern Lovers debuted even earlier. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal , referring to the first show by Television at his club in March 1974, said; "I think of that as the beginning of new wave". Many musicians who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed new wave. A 1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name ( New Wave ) includes American bands Dead Boys , Ramones , Talking Heads , and
2822-525: The Police, and the Cars charted during this period. " My Sharona ", a single from the Knack , was Billboard magazine's number-one single of 1979; its success, combined with new wave albums being much cheaper to produce during the music industry's worst slump in decades, prompted record companies to sign new wave groups. At the end of 1979, Dave Marsh wrote in Time that the Knack's success confirmed rather than began
2905-493: The Pops album series between mid-1977 and early 1982, by the time of the first Now That's What I Call Music! compilation in 1983 punk and new wave was "largely dead and buried as a commercial force". New wave was closely tied to punk, and came and went more quickly in the UK and Western Europe than in the US. At the time punk began, it was a major phenomenon in the UK and a minor one in the US. When new wave acts started being noticed in
2988-626: The Runaways . Between 1976 and 1977, the terms "new wave" and "punk" were used somewhat interchangeably. Music historian Vernon Joynson said new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk. That year, the term gained currency when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue , and music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express . In November 1976, Caroline Coon used Malcolm McLaren's term "new wave" to designate music by bands that were not exactly punk but were related to
3071-405: The UK. In early 1978, XTC released the single " This Is Pop " as a direct response to tags such as "new wave". Songwriter Andy Partridge later stated of bands such as themselves who were given those labels; "Let's be honest about this. This is pop, what we're playing ... don't try to give it any fancy new names, or any words that you've made up, because it's blatantly just pop music. We were
3154-450: The US, the term "punk" meant little to mainstream audiences, and it was common for rock clubs and discos to play British dance mixes and videos between live sets by American guitar acts. Illustrating the varied meanings of "new wave" in the UK and the US, Collins recalled how growing up in the 1970s he considered the Photos , who released one album in 1980 before splitting up a year later, as
3237-503: The United States and Europe where they showcased frantically paced, highly energetic on-stage productions. They were known for using special effects for their live act and sporting home-made costumes, sometimes made mostly of duct tape . The group's music is a novel synthesis of punk rock and new wave but their lyrics are strictly focused on science fiction themes, Atomic Age futurism, alienation and consumerism . Robots, androids , clones and nuclear weapons all figure prominently in
3320-403: The acts on which reflected a wide variety of stylistic influences. New wave's legacy remained in the large influx of acts from the UK, and acts that were popular in rock discos, as well as the chart's name, which reflects the way new wave was marketed as "modern". According to Steve Graves, new wave's indie spirit was crucial to the development of college rock and grunge / alternative rock in
3403-567: The audience before the show began to "go nuts now cause [a reunion] ain't gonna fucking happen again!". April 14, 2015, Roxy Epoxy posted on her Twitter about a show, fuelling speculation that the Epoxies had reformed. This was then confirmed via a Tweet on April 16, 2015 stating that The Epoxies would be playing a show with the Spits at Dante's in Portland for the Project Pabst Music Festival on July 18, 2015. The show sold out well before
Epoxies - Misplaced Pages Continue
3486-709: The avant-garde French record label Rotorelief . In 2016, Roxy moved back to her home state of Massachusetts to attend the 2-year MBA program at F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College . She wrote and recorded a new album of material with Chris Pierce from Groucho Marxists and Doc Hopper at his studio, Volume IV, located in New Brunswick, NJ. Faux Replika's debut album "Presenting!" was released in January 2020 on Rad Girlfriend Records. The full line up has yet to play live due to COVID precautions. FM Static went on to briefly tour as
3569-416: The band chose to include a synthesizer; they "had the intent of offending people with it because it's such an uncool instrument." However, with the rise of synthesizers in popular music since, the Epoxies are often compared to acts such as The Bravery and The Killers , leading the band to wonder if they are not accomplishing their objectives by being "overly cool" instead. One of the synthsizers FM often used
3652-428: The bands that do it well and are going to last on one hand. The Pistols , The Damned , The Clash , The Ramones – and The Jam. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself artistic philosophy, the musicians were more influenced by the light strains of 1960s pop while opposed to mainstream "corporate" rock , which they considered creatively stagnant, and the generally abrasive and political bents of punk rock. In
3735-503: The basis for a full-length album that followed in March 2002 with extensive West Coast tours to support it. Between the release of their first album and August that year Kid Polymer left the band and was replaced on bass guitar by Shock Diode, who has the fictional persona of a clone. The band released a 7" single, "Synthesised", in October 2003, with a B-side cover version of Alice Cooper 's " Clones (We're All) ". Before their first US tour at
3818-464: The body such as suits and big glasses. This seemed radical to audiences accustomed to post-counterculture genres such as disco dancing and macho " cock rock " that emphasized a "hang loose" philosophy, open sexuality, and sexual bravado. New wave may be seen as an attempt to reconcile "the energy and rebellious attitude of punk" with traditional forms of pop songwriting, as seen in the rockabilly riffs and classic craftsmanship of Elvis Costello and
3901-521: The contrast between "the American audience's lack of interest in New Wave music" compared to critics, with a "stunning two-thirds of the Top 30 acts" in the 1978 Pazz & Jop poll falling into the "New Wave-to-rock 'n' roll revivalist spectrum". A month later, the same columnist called Elvis Costello the "Best Shot of the New Wave" in America, speculating that "If New Wave is to take hold here, it will be through
3984-580: The early 1980s, particularly in the United States, notable new wave acts embraced a crossover of pop and rock music with African and African-American styles. Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow , both acts with ties to former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren , used Burundi -style drumming. Talking Heads' album Remain in Light was marketed and positively reviewed as a breakthrough melding of new wave and African styles, although drummer Chris Frantz said he found out about this supposed African influence after
4067-403: The efforts of those furthest from the punk center" due to "inevitable" American middle class resistance to the "jarring rawness of New Wave and its working-class angst." Starting in late 1978 and continuing into 1979, acts associated with punk and acts that mixed punk with other genres began to make chart appearances and receive airplay on rock stations and rock discos. Blondie , Talking Heads,
4150-509: The end of the year, the Epoxies also began making a CD EP to sell at shows that collected their previous 7" releases. Soon after the tour Dr. Grip decided to leave the band and was replaced by Ray Cathode, who claims to be a clone much like Shock Diode. The Epoxies continued to tour the United States in 2003 and 2004 often opening for the Groovie Ghoulies . The group also toured Europe for the first time in 2004 with NOFX . "Need More Time"
4233-417: The ending track "Toys" (their first song to last longer than 4:30). They spent most of 2005 and 2006 touring with similarly pseudonymed bands The Aquabats and The Phenomenauts ; Fat Wreck Chords label-mates Smoke or Fire , The Soviettes and Against Me! , and fellow pop-punkers Teenage Bottlerocket . During this tour, the band re-recorded the single "Synthesised" in the fictional Simlish language for
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#17328837207944316-513: The entire New Wave." Lee Ferguson, a consultant to KWST , said in an interview Los Angeles radio stations were banning disc jockeys from using the term and noted; "Most of the people who call music new wave are the ones looking for a way not to play it". Second albums by new wave musicians who had successful debut albums, along with newly signed musicians, failed to sell and stations pulled most new wave programming, such as Devo's socially critical but widely misunderstood song " Whip It ". In 1981,
4399-463: The fact. As the decade continued, new wave elements would be adopted by African-American musicians such as Grace Jones , Janet Jackson , and Prince , who in particular used new wave influences to lay the groundwork for the Minneapolis sound . The Velvet Underground have also been heralded for their influence on new wave, post-punk and alternative rock . Roxy Music were also influential to
4482-501: The genre as well as the works of David Bowie , Iggy Pop and Brian Eno . The term "new wave" is regarded as so loose and wide-ranging as to be "virtually meaningless", according to the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock . It originated as a catch-all for the music that emerged after punk rock , including punk itself, in Britain. Scholar Theo Cateforis said that the term was used to commercialize punk groups in
4565-497: The genre's popularity in the United States. In the UK, new wave faded at the beginning of the 1980s with the emergence of the New Romantic movement. In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic, new pop , and new music genres. Since the 1990s, new wave resurged several times with the growing nostalgia for several new-wave-influenced musicians. New wave music encompassed
4648-519: The impracticality of wearing a box and playing a guitar became apparent. Kid Polymer soon took up the bass guitar when FM and Viz finally decided to go ahead with the idea. Dr. Grip and Roxy were the last to join the band in 2000, completing their first line-up. Surprisingly, this was the first time Roxy had considered being in a band. They were first known as the Adhesives before discovering that another group with that name existed nearby. In September 2001,
4731-432: The last traces of Punk were drained from New Wave, as New Wave went from meaning Talking Heads to meaning the Cars to Squeeze to Duran Duran to, finally, Wham! ". Among many critics, however, new wave remained tied to the punk/new wave period of the late 1970s. Writing in 1990, the "Dean of American Rock Critics" Robert Christgau , who gave punk and new wave bands major coverage in his column for The Village Voice in
4814-411: The late 1960s, went on to become the host for the television program New Wave Theatre that showcased rising acts in the underground new wave scene. He has been described by NTS Radio as "a virtuosic songwriter and musician whose antics bridged not just 60s counterculture and New Wave music but also film, theater, and music television." In September 1988, Billboard launched its Modern Rock chart,
4897-408: The late 1970s, defined "new wave" as "a polite term devised to reassure people who were scared by punk, it enjoyed a two- or three-year run but was falling from favor as the '80s began." Lester Bangs , another critical promoter of punk and new wave in the 1970s, when asked if new wave was "still going on" in 1982, stated that "The only trouble with New Wave is that nobody followed up on it ... But it
4980-462: The latter half of the 1980s and onward. Conversely, according to Robert Christgau , "in America, the original New Wave was a blip commercially, barely touching the nascent alt-rock counterculture of the '80s." In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic , new pop , and new music genres. Some new wave acts, particularly R.E.M. , maintained new wave's indie label orientation through most of
5063-493: The media: Punk rock or new wave bands overwhelmingly expressed their dissatisfaction with the prevailing rock trends of the day. They viewed bombastic progressive rock groups like Emerson Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd with disdain, and instead channeled their energies into a more stripped back sound… The media, however, portrayed punk groups like the Sex Pistols and their fans as violent and unruly, and eventually punk acquired
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#17328837207945146-401: The monochrome blacks and greys of punk/new wave, synth-pop was promoted by a youth media interested in people who wanted to be pop stars, such as Boy George and Adam Ant ". In 2005, Andrew Collins of The Guardian offered the breakup of the Jam , and the formation of Duran Duran, as two possible dates marking the "death" of new wave. British rock critic Adam Sweeting , who described
5229-500: The most "truly definitive new wave band". In the same article, reviewing the American book This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers , Collins noted that the book's inclusion of such artists as Big Country , Roxy Music, Wham!, and Bronski Beat "strikes an Englishman as patently ridiculous", but that the term means "all things to all cultural commentators." By the 2000s, critical consensus favored "new wave" to be an umbrella term that encompasses power pop , synth-pop, ska revival , and
5312-589: The new wave circuit acts happening very big [in the US]. As a movement, we don't expect it to have much influence." A year earlier, Bart Mills of The Washington Post asked "Is England's New Wave All Washed Up?", writing that "The New Wave joined the Establishment, buying a few hits at the price of its anarchism. Not a single punk band broke through big in America, and in Britain John Travolta sold more albums than
5395-442: The new wave movement's commercial rise, which had been signaled in 1978 by hits for the Cars and Talking Heads. In 1980, there were brief forays into new wave-style music by non-new wave artists Billy Joel ( Glass Houses ), Donna Summer ( The Wanderer ), and Linda Ronstadt ( Mad Love ). Early in 1980, influential radio consultant Lee Abrams wrote a memo saying with a few exceptions, "we're not going to be seeing many of
5478-452: The performance and saw the Epoxies return to the stage with their old swagger and allure. The Epoxies started as a reaction to popular rock music at the time. The original members felt that the entertainment and stage performance aspects of popular music were being ignored and it is this sentiment that results in their characteristic energetic shows and flamboyant homemade costumes. As part of rebelling against established musical conventions,
5561-447: The phonotactics of English and Spanish . The post cites the lack of Simlish and English words that lack vowels, such as the word vlk , which means "wolf" in Czech . The word "vou" or "voo" means "you" in English. The word "ah" can be used to demonstrate self-inflicted verbs, such as Ah sha noop! "I should know!" To demonstrate personal possessiveness, the word "ma" can be used. In
5644-548: The punk-music scene. The mid-1970s British pub rock scene was the source of many of the most-commercially-successful new wave acts, such as Ian Dury , Nick Lowe , Eddie and the Hot Rods , and Dr. Feelgood . In the US, Sire Records chairman Seymour Stein , believing the term "punk" would mean poor sales for Sire's acts who had frequently played the New York club CBGB , launched a "Don't Call It Punk" campaign designed to replace
5727-412: The punk/new wave movement. Acts associated with the movement received little or no radio airplay, or music industry support. Small scenes developed in major cities. Continuing into the next year, public support remained limited to select elements of the artistic, bohemian, and intellectual population as arena rock and disco dominated the charts. In early 1979, Eve Zibart of The Washington Post noted
5810-629: The release of The Sims 2: Open for Business computer game in 2006. The Epoxies signed with Metropolis Records in June 2007 and released an EP in August entitled My New World . Posts to the Metropolis website indicate that they planned an album to follow later in the year. However, in a MySpace blog interview on March 17, 2008, Roxy confirmed rumors that the Epoxies were probably broken up, or at least on an extended hiatus. Lead vocalist Roxy Epoxy began hosting
5893-447: The release of The Sims , Maxis recorded hundreds of voice clips with unique cadences and emotional nuance. Simlish is featured prominently within the franchise of The Sims and its spinoff MySims series. It has since extended to various video games within the Sim series, including SimCity 4 (2003), SimCity Societies (2007), SimCity (2013), and SimCity BuildIt (2014) of
5976-523: The soft strains of punk rock. In the UK, some post-punk music developments became mainstream. According to music critic David Smay writing in 2001: Current critical thought discredits new wave as a genre, deriding it as a marketing ploy to soft-sell punk, a meaningless umbrella term covering bands too diverse to be considered alike. Powerpop, synth-pop, ska revival, art school novelties and rebranded pub rockers were all sold as "New Wave". In mid-1977, Time and Newsweek wrote favorable lead stories on
6059-407: The start of MTV began new wave's most successful era in the US. British musicians, unlike many of their American counterparts, had learned how to use the music video early on. Several British acts on independent labels were able to outmarket and outsell American musicians on major labels, a phenomenon journalists labeled the " Second British Invasion " of "new music" , which included many artists of
6142-436: The styles of the 1950s along with the lighter strains of 1960s pop and were opposed to the generally abrasive, political bents of punk rock, as well as what was considered to be creatively stagnant " corporate rock ". New wave commercially peaked from the late 1970s into the early 1980s with numerous major musicians and an abundance of one-hit wonders . MTV , which was launched in 1981, heavily promoted new-wave acts, boosting
6225-642: The term "new wave" to classify New York–based groups such as the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls . In the US, many of the first new wave groups were the not-so-punk acts associated with CBGB (e.g. Talking Heads, Mink DeVille and Blondie ), as well as the proto-punk scene in Ohio, which included Devo , the Electric Eels , Rocket from the Tombs , and Pere Ubu . Some important bands, such as Suicide and
6308-586: The term with "new wave". Because radio consultants in the US had advised their clients punk rock was a fad, they settled on the new term. Like the filmmakers of the French New Wave movement , after whom the genre was named, new wave bands such as Ramones and Talking Heads were anti-corporate and experimental. At first, most American writers used the term "new wave" exclusively in reference to British punk acts. Starting in December 1976, The New York Rocker , which
6391-419: Was a monophonic Roland SH-101 keytar . Viz used a futuristic looking Epiphone Explorer that had been repainted and modified to contain a laser and a bank of LEDs . The Epoxies Roxy Epoxy New wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop -oriented styles from the 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture ". It
6474-434: Was coined to describe groups who were initially considered part of new wave but were more ambitious, serious, challenging, darker, and less pop-oriented. Some of these groups later adopted synthesizers. While punk rock wielded a major influence on the popular music scene in the UK, in the US it remained a fixture of the underground. By the end of 1977, "new wave" had replaced "punk" as the term for new underground music in
6557-430: Was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock . Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many contemporary popular music styles, including synth-pop , alternative dance and post-punk . The main new wave movement coincided with late 1970s punk and continued into the early 1980s. The common characteristics of new wave music include
6640-487: Was really an exciting burst there for like a year, year and a half." Starting around 1983, the US music industry preferred the more generic term " new music ", which it used to categorize new movements like new pop and New Romanticism . In 1983, music journalist Parke Puterbaugh wrote that new music "does not so much describe a single style as it draws a line in time, distinguishing what came before from what has come after." Chuck Eddy , who wrote for The Village Voice in
6723-523: Was released again the following year on Fat Wreck Chords ' Rock Against Bush compilation. This inclusion led the Epoxies to sign with Fat Wreck Chords for their second album, Stop the Future , released in April 2005, which included a cover version of the Scorpions ' " Robot Man ". It showcased more of the short, fast songs that fans had come to expect while also showing a more down-tempo and melodic style with
6806-518: Was suspicious of the term "punk", became the first American journal to enthusiastically use the term, at first for British acts and later for acts associated with the CBGB scene. The music's stripped-back style and upbeat tempos, which Stein and others viewed as a much-needed return to the energetic rush of rock and roll and 1960s rock that had dwindled in the 1970s with progressive rock and stadium spectacles, attracted them to new wave. The term "post-punk"
6889-510: Was unsuitable for the project. Simlish ultimately became a combination of these languages. One voice actor based in San Francisco , Stephen Kearin, recounted being given a pidgin version of Swahili and Cherokee . Kearin then suggested he speak gibberish, and Wright agreed. Until 2006, Kearin and his female counterpart Gerri Lawlor served as the Simlish actors. Since SimCopter ' s release, Simlish has adapted. In The Sims (2000),
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